Leaders from Northeastern will not allow the scrapping of any ward or constituency in the region, National Assembly Majority leader Aden Duale said on Monday.
Speaking at Najah Islamic Centre, the Garissa Township MP said residents want the number of constituencies and wards increased, not reduced.
The vocal MP said there was a scheme being orchestrated by some people in the government whose sole intention is to portray the region as one with a small population, something he said would lead to fewer resources.
Duale said until and unless the ‘doctored census results’ are corrected then it ‘will not be business as usual’. In November last year, Duale rejected the 2019 census results for Northeastern, saying they were false. He said the results were not the actual remuneration that took place.
“We have the raw data of Balambala, Lagdera and all the constituencies and the truth will finally come out. We will not allow those games to be played to us. Not at all,” Duale said.
“Because you want to deny us county resources, extra constituencies and wards and scrap the few we have, then you go ahead and cook figures which you then claim to be from Northeastern. We know the whole game being played, and we will not allow that.”
The legislator said marginalised parts of Kenya benefited from the fruits of independence only after the promulgation of the 2010 constitution. He however said this reality is in danger ‘courtesy of the fabricated census numbers’.
The 2019 census figures showed that Balambala has the least population at 32,252, followed by Lagdera at 50,315. Dadaab has the highest number after recording 185,252, followed by Garissa Township at 163,914.
The data showed that the three Northeastern counties have a combined population of 2,490,073, compared to 2.3 million people in the 2009 census. Garissa and Wajir have 841,353 and 781,263 people, respectively, while Mandera has 867,457.
Duale also hit out at those calling for the support of ‘one man, one vote’ as for them it was 'one kilometre, one vote'.
Gatundu South MP Moses Kuria is one of the leaders from Central Kenya who has been vocal about the matter, saying they will not entertain any other thing other than ‘one man, one vote’.
“Who are you to tell us one man one vote? Do you think Kenya belongs to you alone? Most of our MPs cover between 10 to 17,000 square kilometres. Kenya is defined by the map by the land size and by population,” Duale said.
Duale said that going forward they will ask for the Ijara and Wajir South to be split.
